waeber



(No Model.)

PREISE T 80G. A. WAEBER.

' METAL CAN.

Patented Mar. 31, 1891.

I flzaziam. a w M 4 JZZZ'OrIwy- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERIC REISET AND GUSTAVUS A. VAEBER, OF NElV YORK, NY.

METAL CAN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 449,136, dated March 31, 1891.

Application filed January 25, 1890. Serial No. 338,070. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, FREDERIC REISET, a native of France, residing in the city of New York,in the State of New York, and GUSTAVUS A. VAEBER, a citizen of the United States residing in said city of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Metal Cans, Boxes, and other Receptacles; and we hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the drawings which accompany-and form a part of this specification.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of the top or cover of a cylindrical can or box constructed according to our invention before its edge has been turned over to form the usual flange. Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-section of the same top or cover, taken on the line 00 a; in Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a cross-section of a similar top or cover, showing a certain modification of construction.

Letters Patent of the United States No. 401,913 were heretofore on the 23d of April, 1889, granted to the above-named Gustavus A. \Vaeber for an improvement in metal cans and boxes of the class which are opened by tearing away a portion of the material of the can or box along a definite line formed by an incision made partially through the metal; and our present improvement consists in a modification and further adaptation of the means described in that patent for effecting such a result.

It is cssential to the satisfactory action of what may be termed the stripping or tearing principle of opening metallic cans and boxes that sufficient rigidity should be imparted to that portion of the metal which is contiguous to the line of the incision to enable it to properly resist the force of the tearing operation without so bending or stretching as to impede the separation of the stripped or torn section.

The invention here described is specially applicable to the ends-that is, to the tops or covers or the bottoms-of sheetmetal cans and boxes or other receptacles.

It consists in making an incision partially through the metal of the top or bottom inside of the outer margin or edge thereof c0ncentrio with and at any convenient distance from the margin and continuing this incision around nearly the entire circumference of the cover or bottom, but deflecting it outward to the margin on each side of a narrow space at a single point in its path where it meets a part of the metal which is formed into a short laterally-proj ectin g flap or tongue, and in combining with such incision a corrugation or rib made in the metal between the incision and the margin coincident, or nearly so, with the circular portion of the path of the incision and of the requisite depth to give the material sufficient rigidity to resist the effect of tearing away the section of material inside of the incision when the can or box is opened.

To enable those skilled in the art to practice our improvement, we will proceed to describe it with reference to the drawings.

B, Fig. 1, represents one end of the can or box. It may be taken as either the top or cover or as the bottom, both being substantially alike in construction. It is made in the usual way of a flat disk of sheet metal,having a short circumferential downwardly-extending flange 60. Inside of its outer edge or margin we make an inc sion c a partially through the metal in the circular path shown in the figure. This incision is continued around nearly the entire circumference of the cover or bottom, as shown, until at b b it meets a narrow portion of the metal which is extended outward beyond the margin into a slightly-projecting flap or tongue g. At these points I) b the incision is deflected outwardly clear up to the exterior edge of the cover or bottom, and its path is made to conform to the outline of the flap or tongue, as shown.

At any suitable point between the incision and the exterior edge we make the corrugation or rib (Z d, which, as will be seen, is coincident in direction with and of somewhat greater extent than the incision, and may or may not terminate at each side of the tongue 9. The depth of this corrugation may preferably be from one-sixteenth to about three thirty-seconds of an inch, and in the case of very large cans or boxes somewhat more. The incision maybe of a depth equal to, say, onehalf of the thickness of the metal, or a little more or less.

If desired, instead of placing the corrugation between the incision and the margin of the cover or bottom,it may be made close up to the incision, or it may be put in its angle or corner, as represented at e in Fig. The corrugation maybe sunk from either the outer or inner surface of the cover or bottom, and the incision may in like manner he made in such outer or inner surface.

Our improvement is equally applicable to cans or boxes of square or polygonal form.

The mode of opening the can or other receptacle will be apparent. The tongue g may be grasped by the fingers or by a suitable instrument, or its end may be inserted in a properly-construeted key, and it may then be bent or rolled inward, and the entire cover or bottom, excepting only the narrow section outside of the incision, will thereby be torn away and the can fully opened.

FREDERIG REISET. GUSTAVUS A. WAEBEl-t.

Witnesses:

EDWARD C. Vrnsnn, F. (i. HENRY. 

